I've been playing CKII for a rather long time now and I think, all things considered, that I got competent enough for my exploits to be entertaining and my mistakes are hilarious enough to be made fun of, so I decided to start a blog about them.
I'm Kazakh, and with the release of the Horse Lords DLC, I was intrigued and started wondering if I could actually navigate the path set by my ancestors' ancestors, so to speak. Unfortunately, the game's end date is 1453, when the Fall of Constantinople happened, 12 years before the official birth date of my nation, when Kazakh Khanate was established, and while I'm aware that it exists and playable in the Europa Universalis series, those games lack the Crusader Kings' sheer unpredictability that I enjoy so much.
And so, since my actual direct ancestors were unavailable to me in this game, I said "screw it" and decided to start the game in the "Early Middle Ages" bookmark, waaay back in 1 January 769 AD. I'll be playing with Tobol Khaganate, who, according to the game, back then ruled the lands I'm living in right now. I'm not going to use the Ruler Designer, since it disables the Steam achievements, and will start the game as pre-made Bonyak Khagan of the Kipchaks.
The game difficulty will be set to normal, the game rules will be set in favor of a more random game experience which would, at the same time, allow the Steam achievements:
This blog also will be a writing practice of sorts for me. You play with a single character in CKII, and the game's trait system allows to roleplay the head of the dynasty, so the posts will be divided in two parts:
- The one where the events are described from the POV of the ruler. I'll try to convey his character traits as well as I can.
- The author's notes, from my own POV, where I'll be commenting on my decisions during the game, my plans and other stuff.
Speaking of plans, I've played a dry run of the game earlier under aforementioned conditions, to get the hang of the Nomadic playstyle, so the plan for the following ten or so in-game years is:
- Establish a large dynasty.
- Raise the populace, prestige and the size of the horde that would allow the conquest of the neighboring feudal states.
The blog has no update schedule right now, and I can only promise that I'll post once a week. Feedback is more than welcome.
Wish me luck!
